U.S. Agudath Israel Convention Opens, Discusses Religious Problems

A call for a Jewish “spiritual revolution” to return to traditional religion as the only basis for coping with Jewish problems throughout the world was voiced here tonight by Rabbi Eliezer Silver, member of the presidium of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, at the opening session of the 34th national convention of Agudath Israel of America. Rabbi Silver declared that “the currently popular secular approach to basic Jewish issues has caused our people many setbacks, the fruit of which can be seen in the negative attitude that some nations have adopted to Israel in its hour of need.”

The four-day convention, in which several hundred delegates are participating, will consider religious problems affecting the Jewish populations of the United States, Israel and North Africa. Rabbis Morris Sherer, executive vice-president of the organization, in his annual report, said that Agudath Israel has increased its membership by two thousand.